LENNIE Lawrence has made a flying visit to the Newcastle to spy on Swiss club Basle.

Cardiff City team boss Lawrence watched Newcastle's 1-0 win against Basle in the Uefa Cup, but he wasn't there to watch home players.

One-time Bluebirds target Carl Cort and Lua Lua are both available when the January transfer window opens, but Lawrence only had eyes for the Swiss team.

Lawrence and chief scout Barry Simmons are keen to strengthen the City squad in January - and they were following up good reports on Basle players.

The pair made their dash to the North East with Australian international Scott Chipperfield a name high on their list of possibilities.

City have pledged to bring in one or two Premiership quality players in January, a month in which Nationwide and Premiership clubs can sign players from abroad.

Lawrence confirmed he had made the trip to Newcastle's St James' Park along with Simmons, saying: "We weren't looking at a Newcastle player."

Chipperfield is a player who would fit City's criteria in being a player who could step straight into the Premiership.

The 27-year-old midfielder is a team-mate of City's Tony Vidmar for Australia and is known to consider it a dream to play in the English league.

City's ambitious plans could well tempt the twice Australian player of the year.

While Chipperfield is one player who could interest Cardiff , Lawrence also noted the names of 24-year-old Argentinian striker Julio Hernan Rossi, who speaks perfect English and is known to be angling for a move away from Basle, plus Swiss international defensive midfielder Mario Cantaluppi, 29, another player keen on a move abroad.

But the two Swiss players who really caught Lawrence's eye on the night were lanky centre-forward Marco Streller, 22, and full-back Philipp Degen, 20.

Lawrence and Simmons flew from Heathrow to Newcastle on Thursday for their mission - and the City manager was back in his track suit to lead first team training at 10am yesterday morning.

"Lennie was at Ninian Park on Wednesday to make key phone calls, drove to London where he met Barry Simmons and they flew to Newcastle," said owner Sam Hammam. "Then he was up at 4.30am the next morning, flew back to Heathrow and returned to Cardiff in time for training.

"That's the stuff of managers 20 to 25 years younger than Lennie - he is unique."